| About InfoWorld : Advertise : Subscribe : Contact Us : Awards : Events : Store |
 |
||||
|
||||
 | ||||
 |
|
|||
 | ||||
|
|
|
||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 NEWSIntel, memory makers form DRAM alliance By Dan Neel January 19, 2000 3:52 pm PT Five memory chip makers, which between them account for more than 80 percent of the global dynamic memory market, aligned with Intel this week to cooperatively develop the next generation of Advanced DRAM Technology (ADT), according to Intel officials.
Noticeably absent from the alliance are representatives from long-time Intel memory partner Rambus. Problems last November with delays in the Intel 820 chip set made it nearly impossible to utilize Rambus memory with the newly launched Intel Pentium III processors. The formal Intel/Rambus development agreement also expired this month though Intel remains committed to Rambus technology. "The absence of Rambus in the alliance by no means chips away at [Intel's] support of Rambus RDRAM," said a spokesman for Intel. "This new effort just makes sense for what's next on the Intel road map." Up to now, reluctance by memory chip makers to stock up on their products in the rapidly changing computer market has caused supply problems, and in some cases, price increases. The ADT alliance is a way of breaking that supply chain problem, according to Steve Cullen, an analyst at Cahners In-Stat Group, in Scottsdale, Ariz. "The DRAM industry hasn't been producing the quantities that Intel would like to see," Cullen said. "And the use of Rambus means paying royalties to Rambus. So if the DRAM guys can build their own synchronous DRAM, then no more royalties." Cullen acknowledged, however, that royalties paid to Rambus for use of the technology may not be the reason for the ADT alliance or Rambus' absence from the alliance. "This alliance probably would have happened anyway, with or without Rambus," Cullen said. "What you would have seen instead would be the DRAM guys trying to develop what they thought the world needed, [with] Rambus doing the same thing, and Intel trying to influence everybody." "Intel is not taking the lead here," stressed one Intel representative. "Each of the five companies in the alliance are working together, making research investments and sharing information." But Cullen said that he believes that the Intel leadership role cannot be shaken off so easily. "Intel should have a pretty good idea of where their processors are going, and therefore understand their future DRAM needs," Cullen said. "So the DRAM guys are definitely interested in what Intel is going to do." Intel Corp., based in Santa Clara, Calif., is at www.intel.com. Dan Neel is an InfoWorld reporter. SPONSORED WHITE PAPERS 
SPONSORED LINKS
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
